SCOTT HOPE
JOURNALIST
RADIO/AUDIO
Radio is the area where I have undertaken the most professional work experience and spent the most time with actual practising journalists in a newsroom environment.
I have also had some experience reporting on dangerous and restrictive areas in the form of my visits to HMP Edinburgh and HMP Barlinnie for radio features.
HMP Barlinnie Smoking Ban Documentary
For my major project, the biggest solo practical component of the Napier journalism course, I visited HMP Barlinnie and made a documentary on the then upcoming smoking ban across all Scottish prisons.
I interviewed several prisoners and prison staff. Interview skills definitely left the largest impression on me after my visit to Barlinnie. Being able to communicate well was essential, especially when talking to two very different groups of people in the staff and the prisoners.
The visit also really put the value of good broadcast journalism into focus for me. Through my work I could take the listener to a place they are most likely never to visit, they could hear from people they might never meet – much less speak to or interact with.
Black Arrow Rocket Returns (Interview)
After crash landing in the Australian outback, the Black Arrow rocket, Britain's only rocket ever launched was brought back to the UK and unveiled in Penicuik. For the story I managed to get Mike Taylor, the Satellite Launch Programme Director at the UK Space Agency (UKSA) in the studio just before the unvieling to talk about the significance of the rocket.
This interview brought together two of my personal interests in science and history. As with my college graded unit, the history of human spaceflight is a particular interest of mine. It was a valuable piece of reporting in my professional development as, if I am able to pick a specialism in journalism – I aspire to become a science journalist.